Re: [photo-3d] On the Computer Graphics Frontier

[Brian Reynolds <reynolds@xxxxxxxxx>]

Rory Hinnen wrote:
> Jim Harp wrote:
> <snip>
> > can also be used.  My understanding is that the TIFF format
> > doesn't use compression and is thus more accurate.
> 
> Tiff can be compressed, but it's not a lossy compression the way
> that jpeg is, meaning information is not intentionally destroyed.
> 

TIFF can have several forms of compression, incuding (in the latest
standard) lossy JPEG compression.

The main problem with TIFF is that many parts of the standard (like
compression, and custom extensions) are optional and programmers are
lazy.  The code to write a TIFF doesn't have to use every option, but
the code to read a TIFF should be able to handle every option, and
most unfortunately don't.

The best option would be PNG (which uses a better lossless compression
than GIF or TIFF), but the commercial software vendors seem incapable
of getting it right (even with a freely available reference library).

-- 
Brian Reynolds                  | "Dee Dee!  Don't touch that button!"
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